Objawienia prywatne w religiach niechrześcijańskich
Private revelations in non-Christian religions

Summary/Abstract: In non-Christian religions, there is no clear-cut division between the sacred and the profane; one sphere permeates the other. Therefore, private revelations are construed and perceived in non-Christian religions in a totally different way than in Catholicism. While Christianity is a theocentric religion and situates God in the centre, non-Christian religions have a cosmocentric dimension. In cosmocentric religions (e.g. religions of indigenous peoples), the immanent and the transcendent can be superimposed on each other. Since man and God can be one already during the lifetime of a human being (according to Hinduism or Sufism – Islamic mysticism), the belief in the existence of “private revelations” can be doubted in these cases. In original Buddhism, there is no mention of private revelations that Buddha would have experienced. Buddha did not yearn for any revelation. He spoke neither about the existence nor the non-existence of deities. Along with Buddhism’s missionary expansion, there appeared trends of the so-called popular Buddhism, whose proselytes began to experience the revelations of Buddha himself and of bodhisattvas, i.e. historical figures who, out of compassion, forgo nirvana in order to save others. In Islam, “private revelations” are linked with Muhammad. The highest Prophet of Islam received the ultimate revelation from Allah. They ended the cycle of revelations known in Judaism and reaching back to Abraham. While in the Catholic Church, “private revelations” have occurred and will be occurring after the completion of the public revelation (to which they have not, and will not, contribute anything new), Muhammad’s “private revelation” initiated a new understanding of monotheism in Islam, making a major new contribution to earlier monotheistic systems.

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